Universal time watch

ABSTRACT

A horological device with a regular hour hand and including an auxiliary hour hand for indicating a different time zone than the local time. The auxiliary hour hand is connected to the regular hour hand through a coupling member permitting relative rotation between the regular hour hand and the auxiliary hour hand when the crown is rotated in one direction and permitting normal setting of the hour hand and minute hand, with the auxiliary hour hand moving in unison, when the crown is rotated in the opposite direction. The coupling member is normally driven by the hour wheel through a peripheral friction coupling, and is held in place during setting of the auxiliary hour hand by a one-way ratchet utilizing weak radial spring arms.

United States Patent [191 Wuthrich Sept. 24, 1974 UNIVERSAL TIME WATCH [75] Inventor: Paul Wuthrich, Watertown, Conn.

[73] Assignee: Timex Corporation, Waterbury,

Conn.

[22] Filed: Dec. 26, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 428,149

[52] US. Cl. 58/425, 58/855 [51] Int. Cl. G04!) 19/22, G04d 27/00 [58] Field of Search 58/425, 43, 85.5

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Primary ExaminerEdith Simmons Jackmon [5 7] ABSTRACT A horological device with a regular hour hand and including an auxiliary hour hand for indicating a different time zone than the local time. The auxiliary hour hand is connected to the regular hour hand through a coupling member permitting relative rotation between the regular hour hand and the auxiliary hour hand when the crown is rotated in one direction and permitting normal setting of the hour hand and minute hand, with the auxiliary hour hand moving in unison, when the crown is rotated in the opposite direction. The coupling member is normally driven by the hour wheel through a peripheral friction coupling, and is held in place during setting of the auxiliary hour hand by a one-way ratchet utilizing weak radial spring arms.

5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 4 V 4 V J assembly.

UNIVERSAL TIME WATCH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to horological devices, and more particularly to a time zone setting mechanism utilizing the same crown and stem assembly to change time zone, as well as to set the regular time on the horological device.

Time zone watches with auxiliary hour hands on dials are well known in the art, and various mechanisms have been proposed for setting the auxiliary hands or dials.

Exemplary of the prior art are U.S. Pat. No. 2,674,085 issued Apr. 6, 1954 to Israel; U.S. Pat. No. 2,777,281 issued Jan. 15, 1957 to Berry; U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,201 issued Oct. 4, .1966 to Peacock; U.S. Pat. No. 3,279,165 issued Oct. 18, 1966 to Burg; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,703 issued Oct. 12, 1971 to Borel. In the foregoing patents, complicated mechanisms have been used in the setting mechanism, or two separate crowns have been necessary, or frictional drives have been used between the regular and auxiliary hour hand hubs which are subject to slippage.

Accordingly, one objective of the present invention is to provide a time zone setting mechanism with a positive drive between the regular and auxiliary hour hands, in which the auxiliary hand may be set to a new timezone with the regular time setting stem and crown Another objective of the invention is to provide an improved time zone setting mechanism which is simple to construct and requires a minimum of parts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly stated the invention comprises first and second coaxially mounted hour hand spindles carrying the regular and auxiliary hour hands, an hour wheel connected to drive one of the spindles, a coupling member v comprising a flexible disk with a friction coupling engaging the hour wheel, and a spring stop member with flexible radial spring arms engaging and forming a oneway ratchet connection with the coupling member.

DRAWINGS Other objectives and advantages of the invention will best be understood by reference to the appended drawings in which:

FIG. I is a horizontal cross section through the hour hand drive and setting mechanism,

FIG. 2 is a view of a time zone watch,

' FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the spring stop member, FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the coupling member,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged horizontal cross-sectional view of the same coupling member, viewed along line V-V of FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a partial plan view of the hour wheel, and

FIG. 7 is an assembled plan view of the auxiliary and regular setting mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, only the parts necessary to an understanding of the present invention are shown, the remainder of elements being conventional. The hand drive and setting mechanism, shown generally as l, is carried on a bridge member 2. Power to drive the hands enters through the sweep second staff 3 carrying a sweep second hand 4, staff 3 is journaled at one end in a bearing 5 and inside a fixed spindle 6 attached-to bridge 2. Power is transmitted from staff 3 through a gear train (not shown) to crown gear 7 which includes time setting and time zone setting crown teeth 8 The crown teeth 8 are engageable through conventional mechanism (not shown) by means of an external crown and stem assembly 9 when the stem is retracted and rotated in either direction. Crown 7 is connected to a minute pinion l0 and also journaled in bridge 2.

The gear train between staff 3 and crown gear 7 also drives via wheel 30 by conventional means a cannon pinion l1 journaled on fixed spindle 6 and carrying a minute hand 12. Y

The minute pinion 10 drives an hour wheel 13 attached to hollow spindle 14 which is rotatably journaled on cannon pinion 11 and carrys a regular hour hand 15. The foregoing described portions of the watch are conventional.

In accordance with the present invention, a second hollow spindle 16 is rotatably mounted coaxiallywith spindle 14 and carries anauxiliary hour hand 17 on one end and a special coupling member 18 on its other end. Coupling member 18 is flexibly engageable through a frictional coupling connection on one side of hour wheell3, and through a one-way ratchet connection on its other side with a springstop member 19. Member 19 is carried beneath and fixed to the dial face 20 of the watch.

Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawing a typical watch is seen, indicating the arrangement of second hand, 4, minute hand '12 and hour hand 15, which are conventional, and the auxiliary hour hand 17 showing the time in a zone three hours ahead of local time. FIG. 3 of the drawing is a perspective view of the spring stop member 19 illustrating the construction. A ring 21 has upstanding tabs 22 on its inner periphery which lock the member 19 to the dial face by means of notches 28'(see FIG. 1). Extending from the outer periphery are radial spring arms 23 which are relatively flexible and which are engageable with the ratchet coupling member 18 beneath raised tabs 24.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views of the coupling member 18 showing it to comprise a flexible disk having raised tabs 24 uniformly spacedaround its outer periphery. The disk curves from its center to its outer periphery 25. FIG. 6 is a plan viewof the hour wheel 13 having a flat surface and teeth 26- engageable with the minute pinion. When assembled together with the coupling member 18, as shown in FIG. 1, the periphery 25 of coupling member 18 engages the surface of hour wheel 13 and is spring-loaded against it. The peripheral engagement tends to prevent any slippage during normal running or setting of the time.

In FIG. 7, the assembly of hour wheel 13, ratchet coupling member 18, and spring stop member 19 are shown with the dial face removed. The mechanism is can move in a counterclockwise direction by slippage of the frictional coupling between the periphery 25 of coupling member 18 and hour wheel 13 (see FIG. 1).

OPERATION in order to set the auxiliary hour hand relative to the regular hour hand, crown assembly 9 is retracted and rotated so as to turn hour wheel 13 counterclockwise. Radial spring arms 23 engage beneath raised tabs 24 on the coupling member 18 as it attempts to rotate with the hour wheel and hold it in place. Slippage of the friction coupling at point 27 takes place due to flexibility of member 18 so that spindles l4 and 16 can rotate relative to one another. Therefore the regular hour hand can be moved relative to the fixed auxiliary hand can be moved relative to the fixed auxiliary hand to indicate the time difference of a particular time zone. This can be set at hour intervals or any fraction thereof by eye.

For normal setting of the hands, the crown assembly 9 is rotated in the opposite or normal driving direction to rotate hour wheel 13 clockwise. The spring loading of coupling 18 against the hour wheel 13 causes both regular and auxiliary hands to move together, while the fixed flexible radial arms 23 disengage from and pass over tabs 24. When the minute pinion is driving the hour wheel during normal running of the watch mechanism, the hands are driven together, again through the frictional coupling at the periphery which is much less subject to slippage than prior art frictional couplings at the hubs. Since the radial arms 23 are very flexible, they do not interfere materially and consume little additional power because of the very weak ratcheting action.

While there has been described what is considered at present to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is desired to secure in the appended claims all modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What we claim is 1. Regular and auxiliary hour hand driving and setting mechanism for a horological device having a dial comprising:

a first rotatably mounted spindle carrying a regular hour hand,

a second spindle rotatably and coaxially mounted on said first spindle and carrying an auxiliary hour hand,

an hour wheel connected to drive said first spindle,

a flexible coupling member connected to drive said second spindle and coaxially mounted adjacent said hour wheel,

fixed spring stop member disposed adjacent said coupling member, said hour wheel and said coupling member flexibly engaged in a frictional cou-, pling tending to prevent rotation of said coupling counterclockwise with respect to said hour-wheel,

and said spring stop member and said-coupling member cooperatively associated .in r a one-way ratchet connection preventing counterclockwise rotation of said coupling member 'with'respect "to the spring stop member.

2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said ratchet coupling member comprises a flexible disk having uniformly spaced raised tabs on its outer periphery and engaging said hour wheel near said outer periphery.

3. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said fixed spring stop member comprises a ring having flexible spring arms uniformly spaced and extending radially therefrom.

4. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said one-way ratchet connection comprises a plurality of flexible radial arms on the spring stop member arranged to engage a plurality of raised tabs on the periphery of said coupling member.

5. Regular and auxiliary hour hand driving andsetting mechanism for a horological device having a dial comprising:

a first rotatably mounted spindle carrying a regular hour hand,

a second spindle rotatablyand coaxially mounted on said first spindle and carrying an auxiliary hour hand, I

an hour wheel 'connected to drive said first spindle and having a flat surface thereon,

a coupling member connected to drive said second spindle, said coupling member comprising a flexible disk coaxially mounted adjacent said hour wheel and having a plurality of raised tabs uniformly spaced about its periphery and curving to flexibly engage said hour wheel flat surface at said periphery forming a frictional coupling there between, and

a fixed spring stop member disposed adjacent said couplingmember and connected to said dial, said spring stop member having a plurality of flexible arms extending radially and forming a one-way ratchet connection with the raised tabs on the coupling member. 

1. Regular and auxiliary hour hand driving and setting mechanism for a horological device having a dial comprising: a first rotatably mounted spindle carrying a regular hour hand, a second spindle rotatably and coaxially mounted on said first spindle and carrying an auxiliary hour hand, an hour wheel connected to drive said first spindle, a flexible coupling member connected to drive said second spindle and coaxially mounted adjacent said hour wheel, a fixed spring stop member disposed adjacent said coupling member, said hour wheel and said coupling member flexibly engaged in a frictional coupling tending to prevent rotation of said coupling counterclockwise with respect to said hour wheel, and said spring stop member and said coupling member cooperatively associated in a one-way ratchet connection preventing counterclockwise rotation of said coupling member with respect to the spring stop member.
 2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said ratchet coupling member comprises a flexible disk having uniformly spaced raised tabs on its outer periphery and engaging said hour wheel near said outer periphery.
 3. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said fixed spring stop member comprises a ring having flexible spring arms uniformly spaced and extending radially therefrom.
 4. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said one-way ratchet connection comprises a plurality of flexible radial arms on the spring stop member arranged to engage a plurality of raised tabs on the periphery of said coupling member.
 5. Regular and auxiliary hour hand driving and setting mechanism for a horological device having a dial comprising: a first rotatably mounted spindle carrying a regular hour hand, a second spindle rotatably and coaxially mounted on said first spindle and carrying an auxiliary hour hand, an hour wheel connected to drive said first spindle and having a flat surface thereon, a coupling member connected to drive said second spindle, said coupling member comprising a flexible disk coaxially mounted adjacent said hour wheel and having a plurality of raised tabs uniformly spaced about its periphery and curving to flexibly engage said hour wheel flat surface at said periphery forming a frictional coupling there between, and a fixed spring stop member disposed adjacent said coupling member and connected to said dial, said spring stop member having a plurality of flexible arms extending radially and forming a one-way ratchet connection with the raised tabs on the coupling member. 